"The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.
The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.
These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob -- fourteen in all." (Genesis 46:19-22 NIV)
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Rachel only has two sons, while Leah has six and a daughter. However, Rachel is Joseph's favorite wife (and would have probably been his only wife if Laban hadn't interfered.) In spite of this, Jacob did agree to take his wives maidservants as additional wives/concubines when Rachel and Leah were battling for his affection, so we can't blame that one on anyone but Jacob.
I think it would be interesting to follow these sons of Jacob through the Bible, which is actually what we are doing as we follow Abraham's line. Jacob's son Joseph is a well-known biblical person, but what about some of the lesser-known sons of Benjamin? I think that keeping these relationships in mind can serve to illuminate other Scriptural passages which might be hard to understand otherwise. We will see.
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